Rain gutters for collecting rain runoff from pitched building roofs are generally U-shaped open troughs that are arranged along the roofline of the building, and in are oriented to catch the surface water that runs off from the roof and guide it to a downspout. Such gutters are usually connected to a fascia board on the building and include one or more downspouts to carry away the roof water runoff and direct it in a desired direction away from the building.
Rain gutters typically are open in an upward direction and will collect leaves and other wind-blown debris, in addition to the rainwater runoff from the roof. The accumulation of leaves and other debris within the gutter ultimately leads to gutter and downspout opening clogging, thereby causing undesired gutter overflow over the front edge of the gutter and along the adjacent building wall. Restoration of the proper water collection and disposal function of such upwardly-open gutters requires that the collected leaves and debris be manually removed, an operation that usually requires climbing a ladder and physically removing the collected matter, which is a tedious, time-consuming process, and one that is potentially dangerous because it involves climbing a ladder to the building roof line and could lead to a fall from the ladder.
Various gutter arrangements have been proposed and developed over the years in an effort to solve the rain-gutter-cleaning problem by blocking the entry into the gutter of leaves and debris. One approach involves the installation over the gutter top opening of a screen or mesh material. The screen or mesh has a number of small openings that are so sized as to allow water to enter the gutter trough while screening out or blocking leaves and other debris from entering the gutter. However, many such screening arrangements have the screening element positioned horizontally over the gutter top opening, or at a very slight inclination, thereby allowing the collection of leaves and debris on the surface of the screening, leading to external gutter clogging rather than internal gutter clogging. Further, the stems of leaves often extend into the screening openings, thereby serving to retain the leaves on the surface of the screening material, preventing their being blown off by the wind, and leading to partial or complete blockage of the screen surface and preventing the full flow of roof runoff to the downspout openings in the gutter base panel.
Another approach that has been developed to block the entry into gutters of leaves and debris is a flat cover that overlies the gutter top opening. The cover is intended to serve as a deflector of leaves and other debris so that they either are blown off the cover by the wind, or they fall over the front edge of the gutter, while allowing the rain water to flow over and around the outer edge of the cover and into the gutter for collection and disposal. Although several approaches to configuring and supporting a gutter cover have been disclosed, those approaches are either cumbersome and time consuming from an installation standpoint, are costly in terms of the amount of attachment materials needed, or are not particularly rigid in terms of the rigidity of the overall gutter structure or the rigidity of its attachment to a building surface.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved rain gutter system with a cover for deflecting leaves and debris from entering the gutter trough.